Activity Menu

Main navigation

Breadcrumb

German police use health app data as evidence in murder case

Police investigating the 2016 rape and murder of a 19-year-old medical student were unable to search the iPhone of suspect Hussein Khavari, an Afghan refugee who declined to give them his password. The investigators gained access to the phone via a private company in Munich, and went through Apple's health app data to discern what kinds of activities Khavari participated in on the day of the murder. The app identified the bulk of his activity as "climbing stairs". An investigator of similar build recreated the events the police believed took place and found a strong correlation between the information recorded during the reenactment and the data recorded on the night of the murder. Khavari has pleaded guilty to the crime. The case opens questions about access to and use of new kinds of digital evidence that will have to be decided by the courts in the coming years.